The number of young women suffering from self-harm issues, chronic mental illness and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is rising at a worrying rate.

Women aged between 16 and 24 are the highest-risk group for mental-health issues, according to a new NHS study. One in five women (26 per cent) reported a common mental-health problem, such as anxiety or depression, in 2014, compared to one in eight men (nine percent).

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The study was carried out on 7,500 members of the public, with 300 participants aged between 16 and 24.

One in eight young women (24 per cent) has PTSD, up from 4.2 per cent when the study was last conducted in 2007.

The number of young females who self-harm is also on the increase, up from 11.7 per cent in 2007 to 19.7 per cent in 2014. The report's authors assert that this figure is likely to be higher in reality – more like one in four, reports the The Guardian.

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So what's the cause behind this sharp increase in mental illness in young women? Factors included violence and abuse, including rape, as well as near-death experiences, such as car crashes and a loved one being killed or killing themselves.

The study authors also noted social media as a cause for concern, adding that this specific age bracket are the "first cohort to come of age in social-media ubiquity. This is the context that they [young women] are coming into and it warrants further research."

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